Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-10-10
DAILY HERALD.
THE AGE TO BE Welded.
Mrs. Ella wheeler wilcox Favors
Late Marriages.

give neT ptisouai ih hPAoooiono uPoi
this question, and she is quite liable
to be prejudiced in her opinions. 1t
would be difficult for the woman who
had been happily mated in her teens
to declare against early marriages, and
il would be impossible for the woman
who found her hearts ideal by wait
ing until she was thirty
to believe there could have
been wisdom in an earlier selection
Almost as many views might be taker
of this subject as there are dispositions
and positions in life. No arbitrary
rule can be laid down for all women
to follow in such matter. We see
daily, girls of seventeen who seem
as mature in mind and body as others
who are many years older. Human
beings are as varied in their types as
plants and vegetables, and require as
much variety OF treatment in their
care.
But in looking over the list of ex
oeptionally happy and unhappy
women whom have known in my
somewhat extensive acquaintance, l
must confess that weight of argument
is not in favor Of early union. Added
to my personal friends, am in con-
slant receipt of letters from strangers
who acquaint me with their sorrows
and ask me for sympathy and advice.
Within q very short period of time
three women have written to me upon
this identical ubject-deploring early
marriages as the root Of all their sor-
rows.
In foreign countries, where single
women are restricted in their privi-
leges and carefully guarded from con-
tact with the world, marriage is a ne
cessity; it is only as a wife that a
woman obtains any liberty or free
dom of action. My arguments. there
fore, are only applicable to our Amer
lean girls, who are, withal, more ac-
count in the progress of civilization
and the advance OF thought than all
the princesses of all the kingdoms in
the world. Every American girl is
reared to consider herself young
princess but unlike her foreign sis
tiers, she is not taught to bow to any
superior.
1t is a sad commentary on American
society and Americsn manners that 80
many bright and otherwise charming
young girls are allowed to tyrannize
over their fathers and mothers,
and that the parents seem to feel
. sort of servile pride in being
eclipsed by their own offspring.
know an almost innumerable number
of girls still under twenty who monop-
olizo the conversation, reprOve their
parents publicly for any careless or
old-fashioned form of speech, and
whose opinions are law and
gospel in the household; while
the parents stand humbly in
the backgl ound, gazing, half in awe
and half in wondering admiration up
on the brilliancy of their own progeny.
This thoroughly American system of
educating young girls, does not con-
duce to their early wisdom or dis
cretion. 1t permits them to gain a
sort of premature chaotic idea of the
surface. things of life far beyond their
years and gives them an exaggerated
impression of their own Importance.
It requires time and experience to en-
able them to slightly estimate their
own worth or understand their own
needs.
EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT.
American girls as a rule develop
early, in consequence of this lack OF
careful training, an intensity of crude
emotion and precocious intellect,
which grasps knowledge quickly, but
of nece sity digests it slowly. There
is time in the life of almost every
girl when the Duchess" novels sat
isfy her mental cravings. and when
the curl of mustache or
the mellow tones of a
tenor voice constitute her ideal
of manhood. Time natures her taste
in literature and experience ripens her
judgment of humanity. She outgrows
the Duchess" and approaches
George Eliot; and she laughs at the
silly edigy whom she had invested
with romantic halo, and admires in
its place men of brain. principle and
heart, The girl who marries during
this transition period is almost sure o.
ultimate unhappiness.
Lying on my desk to-day is letter
from wretched woman who finds re-
lief in telling me her story. II mar
ried at SIXTEEN" she writes, "and al
twenty-five awoke to find myself a
woman united to a man who had moi
one taste or sympathy in common
with me-. We live together under. the
same roof and We are too we'll bred tc
quarrel, but oh the CHASTITY loneli'
ness of it all Tell what l can do
how l can employ my time to stop
thinking" Is this American?
Not very long ago 1 was in the
presence of Q charming couple now
past thirty. They had married when
the wife was but sixteen. The hus-
band adored her, and l had always
looked upon them as an illustration OF
the happiness possible to a perfectly
matched youth and maid who had
journeyed toward the noon of life
together. The wife was that type OF
American women so frequently met
with who develops from pretty girl
into superbly handsome woman, a
thousand times more attractive at 80
than she was at 18. America, and
America only, is prolific in the pro-
duction of such women. Each year
but lends an added charm and time
but softens and perfects the crude
tints and outlines of youth. Exalting
in her beauty and proud Of her attrac-
tions, this worshipped wife was indis-
Greet in speech and action during a
moment OF exuberant enjoyment. Her
husband gently reproved her. She
turned upon him with the fury Of a
young lioness.
at does very well for you to talk
prudence she cried. "But / will
enjoy myself will be admired! l
never had any youth. My girlhood
was passed in the nursery with crying
children, and was old when should
have been young. Every dog has his